Scar
by JMNY8
Summary: Humans don't have to live after experiencing death. Cylon raiders do. Scar died over and over, always fighting until he couldn't.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Battlestar Galactica

The first time he engaged Colonial Forces was after being active for fourteen days. He was one of the last off the production line, and as such had the benefit of all the data that had been collected to date- the consciousness of some 500 Raiders before him. The Cylons were gearing up for war- one last war, to clear the universe of the plague of humanity.

His programming dictated that he should destroy the enemy at any cost. The first time it got put to the test was in a battle at the humans' weapons cache- a place they called Ragnar. Other Raiders targeted the colonies, some were fighting other battlestars. Most were victorious, though at a price. He could feel the faint echo of death whenever one of his brothers was forced to download. He could see the data of the other battles, each was a straight-forward and decisive win. This battle should be, also. The battlestar they were fighting, the one called Galactica, was hindered by age and the nuisance of the unarmed ships it was protecting. Yet for some reason the battle was not yet over. The small squadron of Vipers was formidable in holding off the troops. They were formidable, but they were far from flawless. He had taken out two enemy Vipers and was preparing to make a run at the battlestar when it happened- out of seemingly nowhere, a Viper pulled in front of him and fired. He barely got a glimpse of the ship before his consciousness was pulled out of that shell and into another.

But it wasn't as simple as waking up in a new body.

The second 8757NC launched ammunition at the Raider, all he felt was pain. At first, it was just a tiny hole in his body. It quickly grew and spread, until he could feel himself dying one cell at a time. It was fast, yet endless. Whenever the pain reached the level of being unbearable, it would somehow double until suddenly- yet not suddenly enough- it was over.

He downloaded into a new body, identical to the old. Inside, he was not the same. None could be the same after experiencing the torture of dying. His information was added to the data stream, and he could see from his other fallen companions that 8757NC made it out relatively unscathed.

He would meet the fighter again. It was no longer simply a matter of being programmed to take out the enemy. He had experienced pain for the first time out there, and now he felt something else- determination.

After that first battle, he engaged the Colonial forces over a hundred times. He managed to kill six pilots total. He was killed himself several dozen times, many of them by the same ship that brought him down the first time. Each reincarnation was even more painful and drawn out than the previous one. He remembered every detail of each fight he got into. After being killed once again by 8757NC, he discovered a new feeling surging through his circuits- rage. By now, his Cylon masters had acquired a fair amount of data on these humans, beyond the raw facts the Raiders had acquired in battle. As he emerged from the data stream into his new shell, he learned that 8757NC was the dedicated Viper of one Lieutenant Thrace- Starbuck. More information about her was in the data stream, but it was disjointed and useless- likely from the Hybrids or simply little pieces the Cylon agents in the Colonial Fleet had managed to sneak out.

When the Cylon forces lost their method of tracking the Colonials, they were sent in teams to search for them in all directions. The Six in charge of running this reconnaissance had assigned him with 7 others to check a planetary system. They would go out searching for two weeks before reporting back. By day 10, they had covered most of the system. Before moving on to the next quadrant, he decided to re-check the area where the largest planet was. It had a potentially breathable atmosphere, and data to date suggested that the humans would try to seek it out. The other Raiders were momentarily confused at his abandonment of their methodical search pattern, but quickly accepted his analysis of the data at hand.

Sure enough, when they jumped back to the large planet there were Colonial Vipers flying near one of the planet's moons. Right away, something was different. All previous times, all Vipers immediately engaged them. Now, three were fleeing while one looked as though it would take on all 8 Raiders alone.

After fighting the humans so many times, it was unnecessary to check the plane's number to get its identification. The flying style was distinctive. The fact that she was willing to take them all on alone was telling. And there were other marks on the plane that he could read just as easily as the numbers- burn marks and dings from scores of battles. This was 8757NC- he would finally get to take out Starbuck today. As they engaged, he was too preoccupied with the immediate threat of Starbuck to notice that a second Viper had joined them. When his companion blew up right next to him, he refocused on the fight, managing to sneak behind Starbuck after a fellow Raider took out the engine of the second Viper. He and Starbuck were the only ones still in the fight. He got a minor hit in before she could reengage him. She flipped around, and before she even opened fire, he knew it was over. He couldn't get killed by her again without making her pay. Throttles were on full as he went careening towards her. She missed her first shots, but before he could take her out, she got one shot in right next to his scanner. This pain was manageable. Even as it spread and magnified, he was aware that he was crashing into 8757NC, taking Starbuck with him into the moon's atmosphere. He was still conscious. He could still get back somehow. He ignored the close to unbearable pain and focused on slowing his descent. Just as he was about to take off, he was distracted by a flash of color. It was a parachute- Starbuck survived. Rage drowned out even the pain, and the distraction made him unable to save himself from the moon. He had slowed enough to not completely shatter on impact, but enough damage was done. Slowly, as the orange ball sank to the surface, his consciousness faded out.

When he again reemerged from the data stream, everything seemed different. The pain was remembered as sharply as ever. The rage was still there at the thought of Starbuck surviving, but it was not alone. Something new was there. It took a while to figure it out, and the realization shocked him- it was relief. He was relieved that Starbuck survived, presumably to fight another day. The Twos were all fixated on Lieutenant Thrace- did one of them input this program? As he ran a self-diagnostic, he realized that the feeling had developed on its own. He was relieved that he still had a worthy opponent out there.

He had gone down on that planet as just another Raider. He was reborn with an identity. As he prepared for the next mission, he veered off towards a point on the basestar. He collided with it, gently, but with enough force to leave a mark. He used to be just another Raider. Now he was Scar.


	2. Chapter 2

Starbuck had returned to Caprica. That news permeated the data stream, but most Cylons stopped there. Not Scar- in the data stream, he saw images of her flying in a Raider, or rather the shell of a Raider; the shell that he used to be. It wasn't enough injury to kill him again and again, but she used his own rotting corpse as her personal chauffer. All the Raiders were stricken at the thought of being gutted like that, but none could feel the bitter sting of betrayal quite like Scar. Betrayed by his own body- that's a new one.

Scar started to withdraw from the other Raiders. He took more risky solo missions, pushing out to the edge of the resurrection zone at times. He stopped fighting the Colonials head-on, opting to instead pick them off one by one. Firepower, resurrection, those didn't matter anymore. He was sick of being mere cannon fodder. He developed stealth, agility, tactical planning skills. Months had gone by, and he had only been killed twice more. It was a far cry from the weekly deaths he used to endure, but the memory of his pain stuck with him at all times. Sometimes the thought of it was so strong that he could feel himself dying all over again, even though there was nothing around to kill him. He poured himself into his mission, finding new and more creative ways to kill Colonial pilots.

The asteroid field he was hiding in was perfect for his ambushes. They couldn't read him on DRADIS, could barely see him, and had their hands full dodging debris. There were more of them now- more rookies, and the Pegasus pilots added to their numbers. Their additional resources meant Starbuck didn't make an appearance nearly as often as he would have liked. He made do with what he could, picking off the worst of the bunch, visibly putting the rest on edge.

The Colonials had destroyed the nearest Resurrection Ship, but there were always others. Scar could sense that he was at the very edge of the range of the next closest ship. His resurrection was by no means a certainty, but that only added to his fervor. It didn't matter if he went down, so long as he could take Starbuck with him. He had studied the Colonials enough to predict how they would fly, what tactics they might use. If he could get Starbuck alone, he knew she would do anything in her power to take him out, even if it risked her own life. He learned that particular lesson when she engaged him and 7 of his brothers alone, just to save the clearly rookie pilots she was flying with. She was fearless, and he was counting on that trait to be used to his advantage. Scar could admire and respect that quality of hers while still using it against her.

It took over a week to bring his plans to fruition. A week before Starbuck was out with just one other adept pilot. He disregarded the spare as a minor nuisance, and set his sights on 8757NC. After a hundred deaths and the horrors of seeing his own corpse used against them, Scar would get his revenge. If he got lucky, he would be within Resurrection range, but it really didn't matter- nothing mattered right now beyond taking out Starbuck.

There were a few minutes of fighting, dodging and weaving until it happened- just as he had set it up. They were flying directly toward each other. The only way for her to take him out right now would require her death as well. His circuits were buzzing from his added fervor, preparing for that final moment.

Suddenly, something changed. She was no longer headed straight for him. His rage flared up once again as she flipped around and evaded him. He was blind to everything but the ship in front of him, and his ire at its pilot, the one who refused to kill him.

Confusion- another new feeling. Could she value his skills as an opponent as he did hers? Could she simply not kill him anymore?

No- his thoughts were cut off abruptly as another Viper swung in, seemingly from nowhere, and fired. He had let his focus on Starbuck distract him once again. Maybe she knew he would- maybe she was counting on it.

Dying was as painful as ever, but after countless deaths, he was used to it. It went more quickly this time than it ever had before. By the time he registered the pain, it was over. He almost couldn't distinguish the real pain from that in the memory of deaths gone by.

As he started to reawaken into the data stream, all the feelings he had developed came crashing down into him. He had died just barely in range of the Resurrection Ship. As he prepared to be loaded into a new body and start the mission all over again, he realized that this wasn't what he wanted. His programming told him to download and go back out to fight the Colonials, but he was more than just programming now- he was Scar. And Scar would have no more of this.

The Cylons thought something went wrong during the download- maybe he was just a bit too far out of range. They downloaded the Scar consciousness into a new body, but it wouldn't take. They changed out equipment, tried new bodies, searched for corrupted programming, but he was simply gone. They never knew it was his choice, but they knew one thing: Scar was no more.


End file.
